Sustenance

Sustenance

Sustenance is a player attribute which determines how hungry they are - if a player is low on sustenance, their health regeneration will be negatively affected. To increase sustenance, players can eat food.

Effects

• The maximum sustenance a player can have is 100.
• Immediately after consuming a piece of food, the player receives an invisible perk (buff) that stops the degradation of sustenance for 60s.
  • Interestingly, this timer begins upon clicking the food and starting the use delay timer of 2sec, not after this delay is completed as one would assume. In this way, technically the buff is only 58sec long + the 2sec use delay timer. (One would assume that the freeze on degradation is an entirely separate function from the consumption delay, with players benefiting the full 60 seconds and not just the 58 seconds as suggested. This is to prevent loss of health and other negative affects while in the middle of eating)
• Sustenance status slowly dwindles over time. When equal to or less than 25/100, sustenance dwindles at half the rate:

This means going from 100-0 sustenance takes 1,812.5s (30m 12.5s).

• If the player has less than or equal to 25/100 rest, sustenance will dwindle more quickly (1s faster per point lost at base rate):

At this rest threshold, the player would instead go from 100-0 sustenance in 1,687.5s (28m 7.5s)

• Every 25 sustenance will increase the player's natural health regeneration:

• Upon reaching 0 sustenance, the player will start taking damage until reaching 1 health; the player cannot die from having 0 sustenance. The damage can stack with 0 hydration making the player's health drop more quickly to 1, however this still cannot kill the player.
  • At 0 sustenance, the player will lose 1 HP/s.
  • At both 0 sustenance and 0 hydration, the player will lose 2 HP/s
• Like hydration, while at 0 sustenance the player cannot use the spell Eye of Oculus. This means when building large structures or player homes with the use of Eye of Oculus, hydration and sustenance items are required.
• Like with hydration but unlike rest, upon death sustenance will be reduced by 10/100, unless the player is already at or below 35/100; in this case, it will be reset to the minimum of 25/100
• After a full night's rest, sustenance is reduced:
  • 55-100: Sustenance reduced by up to 30, randomly
  • 25-55: Sustenance reduced randomly by up to 30, to the minimum of 25
  • 0-25: Sustenance maintained at current value.

Player Announcements

Upon reaching certain thresholds of sustenance, a player announcement on screen will display:

25/100: Your stomach growls. You could do with a snack.

5/100: Your stomach aches from hunger. You need to eat something.

0/100: Your stomach writhes in pain. You stand at death's door from hunger.

Journal

The following text is transcribed from the Journal.

Food is a basic need for all living creatures. We consume, or we die. Life on Ashenfall is no different. Your Sustenance meter tracks how hungry you are. It is filled by eating food and it will deplete over time as you exert yourself trying to survive the wilds of Ashenfall. A high Sustenance meter causes your health to regenerate more quickly. However, should you run out of Sustenance, your health will start depleting as your body canibalises itself in an attempt to survive. Keep an eye on how hungry you are. Higher tier foods will provide more Sustenance than lower tier foods, but berries will help you survive in a pinch.